Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.

I was mugged at UAB in downtown Birmingham when I was in grad school more than a decade ago. All I had on me was $20 and a copier vend card. A friend of mine was mugged at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. A lot of big schools are in less than desirable areas. I would guess that it's cheaper to acquire land in those places. After I was mugged, I started carrying a 12" axe handle. Perfectly legal and it's amazing how people leave you alone when you're carrying an axe handle. I didn't even have to deal with street sexual harassment anymore.

An axe handle is definitely an assertive fashion statement.

I truly don't understand why some areas are "less than desirable" or prone to muggings and burglaries. I refuse to accept the notion that sort of behavior is just an inevitable fact of urban life. It doesn't have to be. Muggers, burglars and assaulters can choose not to act like idiots.

For instance, you see a couple of Tech students pull up next to their home one evening. You could tell your buddies, "Hey, here's what we'll do. Let's get a gun, follow these people into their house, make them strip naked, tie them up, and then we'll rip them off big time and steal their car."

You certainly could do that. But you could just as easily leave them alone and not violate their personal security and steal their property. That's a personal choice, no matter how you were raised and what part of town you grew up in.

I wasn't leaning towards the chemical issues but the lack of parenting since their parents were around in most cases. Most were raised by their grandparents during this time. Alot of angry in these kids.

Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.